The Prime Minister's interview with Sabra Lane

SABRA LANE: Prime Minister, thanks for joining the program. 

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you.

LANE: One-off cash handouts to pensioners and welfare recipients happen next month. The cut in fuel excise is for six months. How is this anything but an electoral bribe for a government in deep trouble on the eve of the election?

PRIME MINISTER: The cost of living pressures that are being faced by Australians are real. They're caused by the terrible events that we're seeing in the war in Europe. And we've seen the Australian economy improve by $100 billion for the Budget. And what we're doing is giving Australians a shield to protect themselves against those cost of living pressures right now with real packages. So it's responsible, because we've been able to strengthen the economy to pay for it. It's targeted, because we're dealing with the pressures that exist right now, and we're showing the same responsibility that we did through the pandemic. When people needed help, we were there and we want to make sure that people are coming through this latest shock, one of the biggest energy shocks we've seen in a generation, by delivering real cost of living relief right now through tax cuts, through cutting excise. Tax cuts through their personal income tax. And for those on fixed incomes and pensioners, ensuring that they're getting additional support right now because right now is when they need it.

LANE: But less than a month ago, you said it was inadvisable to cut fuel excise, and now you're doing just that. What are voters to make of your change of heart? And what changed your mind?

PRIME MINISTER: The cost of living pressures being faced by Australians are real. And as the prices continued to go up, and as the situation in Ukraine continued to deteriorate. The cost of fuel flows through everything because we're a big country. The transport, logistics costs. All of this means it puts pressure on the price of groceries. So Australians know that they're feeling those cost of living pressures. And this Budget is delivering on that, and it's doing it responsibly. Because we're doing it off the back of the hard work that both Australians have done and the Government has done to strengthen the Budget so we're in a position to provide this. S&P just last night affirmed our AAA credit rating because it backed in the investments, Australians, we're making to protect our economy, protect our recovery to ensure we grow into the future. And the Budget has strong plans for that growth over a decade and more.

LANE: Unemployment is due to drop to 3.75 per cent, the Budget papers show wages still won't eclipse inflation until next year. What happens in September when that excise cut ends? Wages still won't be keeping pace with inflation by that point, are people just on their own?

PRIME MINISTER: What you'll see, and this is what the Budget and the Treasury have estimated, a forecast, is by the time we get to the end of September, they're expecting that oil price to have fallen. And that means that, that need for that immediate relief, which is driven by those fuel price increases we expect to have abated. Now, you know, in New Zealand, they've done it for three months. We think it'll take longer than that and that's why we've kept it in over that six months period. But we always know when to provide that support, and we always know when it's time where people have been able to come through those difficult periods to keep going forward. But the tax cuts continue to deliver.

LANE: But if the war is not over and the fuel price goes back up in September. Will they blame you or possibly Prime Minister Albanese?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's a judgement for the Australian people. But you raise the right point because this election is a choice about who can best manage our economy and who can best manage our finances and who can best take Australia through the crises that we've had and the crises that we'll still face. And what we're seeing with the rise in fuel prices, it's affecting everybody. It's real. That is what's driving these decisions because we know Australians have worked hard to come through the pandemic. We don't want to see them now hit by these rising costs of living through no fault of their own. This is another event that we've seen that we've had to deal with as a country, like the many we've already come through. Yet Australia's economy is stronger than all of the advanced nations in the world. And we're ensuring that we’re continuing to invest in that strong economic growth because that's how you grow wages. That's how you increase wages, by driving unemployment down, getting people into work and ensuring that your economy continues to grow in the future. That's the plan for higher wages growth. And as the Reserve Bank Governor says, we're already seeing those wages rise now.

LANE: Well, how confident are you that the one off payments and greater tax relief simply won't add to inflationary pressures and force the Reserve Bank to actually lift interest rates sooner than expected? A million homeowners across Australia have never experienced the Reserve Bank lifting rates.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I'm confident about is the fact that when you cut excise in half, that actually reduces the cost pressures. That actually reduces the cost pressures, and it enables Australians to deal with the rising costs that they've already got in front of them. And so that's why S&P, the ratings agencies, have affirmed our AAA credit rating. That's why Treasury have been able to say that by cutting those costs for Australians, you're relieving the inflationary pressures. And that's why you have to do it responsibly. It has to be temporary to ensure that you're not locking in those other longer term impacts that could arise if it didn't show that discipline. We knew when to start JobKeeper and we knew when to end it. Labor would have spent an extra $81 billion during the pandemic, and that would have put extraordinary pressure on the Budget, and it would have meant that we wouldn't have be able to have done exactly what we did last night to afford delivering that additional cost of living relief last night, that shield Australians need. Labor wouldn't have been able to do that because it would have already spent the money.

LANE: The Budget papers show that the Government's delivered $10.3 billion in relief for the current floods, the Black Summer bushfires and the North Queensland floods of 2019, and $1.3 billion to better prepare and respond to natural disasters in the future. Many Australians would wonder why you're not spending more on preparedness, given that that amount is still dwarfed by the costs of these disasters.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is why we are investing in climate resilience and climate adaptation. This is why we're investing $1 billion dollars in the reef. This is why we're investing in flood mitigation. This is why we're building dams. This is why we've been doing all of those things, Sabra. Because we've been through a lot of these natural disasters now and every single time we learn how we can do it even better the next time. And our response to the floods this time, take the Brisbane flood, in particular. We ensured that we got four times the number of ADF out almost a week faster than what we saw in the 2011 floods. We've got over $1.3 billion paid out directly into people's pockets, to 1.4 million Australians. That's real support, real fast, right when they need it. And Australians are getting hit by these cost of living pressures now, and they're real. I know I've got critics who say you shouldn't be spending money on helping people during these crises. But we do because we know Australians need it, because we know the need is real.

LANE: You're calling an election soon. Absent a scoop on exactly when, Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells says that you are a bully, you lack a moral compass and you're unfit to be Prime Minister. Why should you be re-elected, given that assessment from one of your own, someone who used to be a close ally?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I know Connie is disappointed, having lost the preselection of some 500 members on the weekend. Six years ago I strongly supported her and ensured that she was able to be re-selected. She was very happy at that time, but now, after, you know, being unsuccessful on the weekend, I understand that she's disappointed. And I join a long list of those that she's said these things about at times like this. But if she has very strong concerns about this and has complaints to make, our party has a process for dealing with those complaints and I'd encourage her to make those complaints directly to the federal president and state president of New South Wales, so they can be properly looked at.

LANE: Many voters would think that someone who's been a close and personal ally of yours, and if she thinks that of you, why should you be Prime Minister?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I wouldn't assess that in the same ways that you have. I mean, she's been very critical of the government and my predecessors as well, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, experienced a similar commentary. So look, I understand that Connie is very upset about not winning that preselection on the weekend, but I'm very pleased that we've got Senator Marise Payne and Senator Jim Molan who have been doing a terrific job. 500 members of the party made that decision on the weekend, and I respect their decision.

LANE: Prime Minister, thanks for joining the program this morning.

PRIME MINISTER: Thanks a lot, Sabra.